


Rifts

by Anonymous



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 21:52:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19385341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Alibaba should have known better than to touch dubious artefacts without knowing what they were.





	Rifts

Alibaba had been wandering around the town for who knows how long. After the fight against David the landscape had been changed so drastically that even though it hadn’t been all too long yet, seeing how it used to be felt strange. He had woken up on the floor of his former temporary residence with the worst crick in the neck he’d ever had. At first he’d merely been confused. Waking up at strange places wasn’t so unthinkable anymore.

Then he had gone straight into denial.

Right now… he was dealing with it. Or attempting to at least.

Figuring out how he had ended up in this mess had been easy. Aladdin, Morgiana, Judar and he had decided to research the Great Rift – well, Judar had been involuntary volunteered – but after several small excursions they had decided they needed more supplies to go further. And a better plan. Alibaba kept landing in weird places and after the fifth time that happened Aladdin had started to actually contemplate Judar’s suggestion of using Morgiana’s chains as a leash.

Aladdin had predicated he was joking. Alibaba wasn’t sure he believed that.

If he could blame the Great Rift for his predicament it would be easy. Unfortunately, maybe Judar’s suggestion had had some merit, because the only person he could blame was he himself.

Following their goal of changing the system, Aladdin had been very active in the background, trying to find ways to accomplish it. Since everyone was busy rebuilding the world though, he hadn’t had any luck finding others to join his efforts. Even Yamraiha couldn’t do much more than to send him books and scrolls that he might find useful.

He knew Aladdin had been using Solomon’s Wisdom, now newly renamed _Open Sesame_ , to gather more information but his answers had been frustratingly vague. Alibaba had assumed that it was merely because he couldn’t say anything concrete yet but considering that whatever thing he had stumbled upon in Aladdin’s tent had gone boom and caused a chain reaction in the rift that had somehow send him here of all places, Aladdin’s efforts didn’t seem to have been quite as fruitless as he had inferred.

He was definitely going to spank him for this.

Except no, no he wasn’t. He’d be lying if he said he had never thought about it while Aladdin was still a child but spanking a fifteen year old would be weird.

And well, you didn’t spank your friends. Actually… Alibaba was going to pretend he’d never thought that.

He didn’t even have the right to be mad. After all, he’d been the one to breach Aladdin’s privacy and enter his tent. When Morgiana and Alibaba hadn’t been married yet, they used to sleep together in one bed. Alibaba would be dishonest if he said he didn’t miss that. Now that they were married, Aladdin seemed to give them some space. Unnecessarily so. Nothing had happened yet. At all.

That was hardly surprising considering that they’ve yet to be at a place where people wouldn’t overhear them right away. Not that Morgiana had _shown any interest_ but… he digressed.

Alibaba was pretty sure Morgiana missed it, too.

Alibaba was also pretty sure he was screwed. And not in the way he’d wanted to be. Whatever had done this, and he had _no clue_ what it had been, at all, had probably not even been intended as a time machine.

Maybe something to connect dimensions with? Something to thin the barrier between them?

Unfortunately even as a hundred- and- something- year-old man, he was nowhere near well-versed in magical artifacts. Not that he hadn’t learnt anything simply by his proximity to magicians and his stunt as an advisor of the Kou Empire, but not nearly enough to accurately guess what he had set off.

Qishan was exactly like he remembered it. And while this was the place where he had met Morgiana and conquered Amon’s dungeon together with Aladdin, he couldn’t say that his memories were primarily positive.

Amon’s dungeon was still there.

“Alibaba!”, a hand grabbed his shoulder to turn him around and for the first time in years, Alibaba was staring at his former boss’ wrinkled face. He seemed slightly out of breath. “I kept calling you but you didn’t react. What are you doing?”

“What am I doing?”, Alibaba echoed, unsure how to deal with situation.

“You didn’t appear at work! Because of this we’ve got tons of complaints. Even worse Budel-sama has talked to Lord Jamil!”

Alibaba could feel the blood leave his face, leaving him feeling strangely dizzy. “Budel?”, he repeated airily.

“Do you know how much money this cost us? He’s an important wine merchant! I’d never taken you as somebody to slack off on your job-“

Alibaba grabbed his shoulders, stopping him in the middle of the sentence. “Did you say Budel?”

His boss furrowed his eyebrows and took a step back. “… Are you alright, Alibaba? You seem off.”

Oh, no. Alibaba had the horrible feeling that he knew what day it was. He had just missed Aladdin.

That being said, he had maybe still arrived in Qishan with other means. Budel was here, so there was a high chance Aladdin could be too. People were milling the streets, even though it was close to evening. He was not all too far away from Amon’s dungeon but Aladdin had only heard of it after Alibaba had informed him.  Finding him in a big city like this was close to impossible.

Morgiana was here. Still under Jamil’s thumb. He had to- he had to go. _Now._

“I need to go.” Ignoring his boss’s protests he turned around and blended into the masses. Going back to the future right now was impossible. He had to fix this first.

He had to go and conquer Amon’s dungeon, with or without Aladdin. Without it, he wouldn’t be able to be of any use at all. He needed to free Morgiana.

Even by himself he was confident he’d be able to do it now. He should still get rations. But that would cost time.

Alibaba stopped, started walking again and stopped another time before he changed course with a curse. Going in unprepared and getting killed wasn’t going to help Morgiana. He needed to be more careful.

Not wanting guards on his tail, he only moved as fast as he dared to, still ruffling some feathers in the process. Every time he saw a slave, he felt his stomach turn around. He’d always been against slavery, but he would be lying if he said that meeting Morgiana hadn’t made him more sensitive towards the topic.

Alibaba slowed down when he saw a small conglomeration of humans at the end of the road, talking with raised voices. A few men laid on the ground, out cold, a vegetable stand destroyed. A man, angrily screaming over the loss of his cabbages, almost drowned out the shouting coming from the side road.

_What the hell had happened here?_

“Move!”

Alibaba froze.

Jamil looked furious, his clothing roughed up, swinging around his sword with one hand and pulling Morgiana by her hair with the other. Her wounds looked to be largely shallow but she still flinched when Jamil tightened his grip.

Alibaba bit his lip, his grip on the handle of his dagger almost painful. He couldn’t jump in. If he attacked Jamil now, he’d become a fugitive and then he wouldn’t be able to buy her freedom. She’d survived years without him. If he hurried up, he could clear the dungeon in a few hours and she’d be _free_.

“What are you doing, you imbeciles!? Call reinforcements!”, he looked harried, his slightly shaking hand displaying how nervous he was. He looked back every few seconds, snarling at the onlookers who were slowly starting to make space for him. “You are not get–“

A body flew by Jamil’s head, barreling into the ruins of the vegetable stand. Alibaba realized belatedly that he was wearing a uniform. Who would pick a fight with Jamil and the guards–?

“Let her go.” He saw a flash of blue before Aladdin stepped out of the shadows, holding the Ugo’s flute in his hand. His eyes passed over the crowd before dismissing them. For a moment they also landed on him, noting his grip on his dagger. Alibaba quickly let go, feeling cold sweat break out on his body.

Aladdin’s eyes were awfully cold.

It was an expression Alibaba hadn’t seen on his face since years. It certainly felt like he was judging them – and finding them wanting.

“No. This is my property”, Jamil said, throwing her to the ground. “I can do to her whatever I like.”

Morgiana didn’t react. Aladdin took a deep breath and blew into his flute.

Chaos erupted.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this aeons ago and never continued it. I won't either but simply deleting it seems like a shame, so here it is.


End file.
